


Daisy Smiles

by AggressivelyBisexual



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 20:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14088579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AggressivelyBisexual/pseuds/AggressivelyBisexual
Summary: Boyfriend sounds too juvenile for how Daryl feels.





	Daisy Smiles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSparrow93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSparrow93/gifts).



> happy belated ♡ thank you for being you ♡

Daryl finds Enid, Aaron, Gracie, and baby Hershel on the Barrington front porch. There’s a pile of daisies that they’re trying to twist together into shapes that Daryl can’t immediately make out. 

“It’s February,” Enid says, as if that explains anything. 

Aaron takes pity on Daryl’s blank staring, “She’s talking about Valentine’s Day,” he says. 

“Y’all still do that?” Daryl asks. 

Gracie, with a crown of flowers around her little head, reaches towards one of the chains that Enid is finishing, who pulls it away before her chubby hands can ruin it. 

“Here,” Enid holds a small heart made out of daisies towards Daryl, “You should give it to Jesus.”

Daryl’s head jerks up, eyes wide, “Wait, you think he wants a gift?”

Aaron laughs, and Daryl feels that he is a little too amused with this entire conversation, “No, I doubt he even remembers that this holiday existed.”

“It’s just something sweet,” Enid says. 

Daryl chews on his lips thinking, the last flowers he gave or ever paid attention to were the cherokee roses he gave Carol back at the farm. Flowers aren’t something he’s put much thought into before, much less having someone to give them too.

“You think?” he asks quietly, looking quickly up at Aaron and Enid from behind his hair. 

“What do you have to lose?” Aaron asks.

A whole lot, he thinks but doesn’t say. Daryl tries not to look too closely at the sad twist in Aaron’s smile and the quiet pain in his eyes, tries not to think of how much experience he once had in giving his boyfriend romantic gifts. 

If boyfriends are the right word for what he and Paul are, what they’ve never really tried to define. They live together in Paul’s trailer, they go out scavenging together, they make dinner together, they sit and read quietly together with Paul’s feet in his lap as he idly massages them. They say easy goodbye’s in the morning and warm hello’s when they reunite, no matter how short or long the time was in between. They make love soft and slow in the middle of the night, hard and biting after rough days, quiet and gasping under the stars on the roof of their trailer.

Boyfriend sounds too juvenile for how Daryl feels. 

He takes the heart in his clumsy hands, scared of crushing the daisies, and mumbles his thanks as he walks away. Daryl makes his way to the trailer, partly hoping Paul isn’t there yet so he can figure out what he wants to say. But, Daryl can see him sitting on top of the picnic table out front, sharpening his knives. 

Paul stops and sends Daryl a bright smile when he sees him coming closer, a soft glow of warmth and candlelight. The swoop in Daryl’s stomach doesn’t feel as scary as it used to. 

“What’s that?” Paul asks, pointing to the daisy chain.

Daryl shows him the small heart resting in his open palm, wordlessly passing it over. 

Paul stares confused, gaze flicking back and forth between Daryl’s eyes and his hand. 

“Who made this?” Paul laughs, voice jumping with amusement.

Daryl scoffs, “What, you don’t think I could?”

“I definitely think you could,” Paul says, “But it doesn’t quite have your touch.”

“And what touch is that?” Daryl asks, lips quirking up.

“I don’t know, a dead squirrel, fruit, something edible,” Paul says. 

“Actually, you can chew those up for the water in ‘em, if you’re stuck out there without some,” Daryl replies nonchalantly. 

Paul gives him a flat stare, “You’re full of shit.” 

Daryl ducks his head, hiding his chuckle in Paul’s shoulder. Paul turns and leans into him, pressing his smile into Daryl’s hair. He reaches out and gently takes the flowers that had started to unravel, setting them onto the table next to him and holding Daryl’s hands instead. 

“Really, though,” Paul says quietly, “What is this?” 

Daryl keeps his face pressed against him for a quiet moment, brushing the tip of his nose and the top of his lips in the space between Paul’s neck and the top of his shoulder. He pauses, attempting to gather any thoughts beyond the only one that has been loudly swirling around his head. 

He finally meets Paul’s eyes and murmurs, “I love you.” 

Paul’s lips part, “What?” he asks, voice silent and face wide with surprise. 

Daryl bites the corner of his lips as they start to tick up.

“I love you,” he repeats, a touch louder. 

Paul suddenly kisses him, laughing into Daryl’s mouth, grinning too widely to make it a proper kiss. His hands come up to frame Daryl’s face, fingers brushing into the hair behind his ears. 

He pulls back just far enough to meet Daryl’s eyes, his growing smile bringing Daryl’s up with it.

“I love you, too,” Paul says.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://captainameriqueer.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
